Louise Bak is the author of Gingko Kitchen (Coach House Books, 1997) and emeighty (Letters, 1995). Bak is the co-host of Sex City, Toronto’s only radio show focused on intersections between sexuality and culture. Her performance work has appeared in numerous galleries, festivals and video collaborations in North America and Europe. Bak also hosts a reading/performance series called The Box. She is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto in Philosophy and Women’s Studies.

Acknowledgments

I’d like to thank Darren Wershler-Henry, Nicky Drumbolis, Stan Bevington, Alana Wilcox, damian lopes, Rick/Simon and the rest of the staff at Coach House Books for their guidance and support.

My special thanks to Victor Coleman for lending a sensitive eye to Tulpa, and so much more – my first reader and dear friend, whose vision and input made this book possible.

Some of the poems in this collection first appeared in: Blue Ruin, Drift, Exile, Fascist Panties, Fireweed, Heavy Girl, Jones Ave., Queen Street Quarterly, PlusZero, Rampike, Schrodinger’s Cat, Swallowing Clouds: An Anthology of Chinese-Anthology of Chinese-Canadian Poetry and West Coast Line.

I thank Mike Hoolboom, Eli Langer and Ho Tam for setting their invaluable work with these poems.

For their encouragement, generosity and various sorts of inspiration, I owe many thanks to: John Barlow, Justin Cheng, Nancy Dembowski, Tom Dean, Christopher Dewdney, Frantic, Eldon Garnet, Ron Giii, Steven Heighton, Edward Kay, Istvan Kantor, Keith Lock, David McFadden, Karl Mohr, Michelle Mohabeer, Nilan Pereira, Rajinderpal S. Pal, Coman Poon, Russell Smith, Steve Venright, Martin Villafana, Fred Wah, Tobaron Waxman and Jim Wong-Chu. I am very grateful to the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for their assistance. Lastly, my thanks to Philip Monk, for everything else.

copyright © Louise Bak, 2001

EDITOR Victor Coleman
COVER Rick/Simon
COVER STILL Mike Hoolboom
ILLUSTRATIONS Eli Langer, Ho Tam

AUTHOR PHOTO Bryan Porterfield

ISBN 1-55245-950-0
Coach House Books, 2002